Perspectives Flashcards
Five Criteria for Critical Understanding of a theory
- Coherence and conceptual clarity
- Testability and empirical support
- Comprehensiveness
- Consistency with social work’s emphasis on diversity and power arrangements
- Usefulness for social work practice
Systems perspective sees human behavior as outcome of…
interactions within and among systems of interrelated parts.
What was the dominant systems theoretical perspective of the 1960’s and 1970’s?
General Systems Theory
based on the work of biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy
He proposed that any element is best understood byh considering it’s interactions with its consitutent parts as well as its interactions with larger systems of which it is a part.
Difference between a closed system and an open system
Closed system is isolated from other systems in the environment.
(EG socially and geographically isolated families and communities.)
Open system is in constant interaction with other systems.
(EG Internet based social net works.)
In the 1980’s the _________ became a popular systems theory
Ecological or Ecosystems
The ecological perspective extended the general systems theory by considering the important role of _____________ on human behavior.
Physical environments
Autopoietic means
self-created and reproduced
In systems theory, boundaries indicate
Who is in and who is out.
Feedback mechanisms are
processes that use the conditions of one component to regulate the function of another or by which outputs of the system are fed back as unputs in a circular manner.
A holistic view in systems theory means
considering the multiple environmental influences involved.
What did bioecological perspective add to ecological perspective?
More attention to medical factors
Risk and resilience theory is
an extension of ecological perspective that proposes risk factors and protective factors in both the person and the environment.
Globalization theory
emerged in reaction against the Western bias of earlier theories. Calls attention to cultural imperialism.
Fuzzy set theory
Membership in a grou pis not binary - meaning you’re either a member or you’re not. Objects are assigned a number from 0 to 1 to indicate the degree of belonging.
Deep ecology
focuses on total interconnectedness of all elements of the natural and physical world.
Conflict Theory
emphasizes conflicts that arise because of inequalities in the distribution of resources. Looks for sources of conflict in the economic and political arenas, and more recently in the cultural arena.
Conflict theory is based on Marx’s ideas about
capitalism. Economic system divided into capitalists and workers. Creates false conciousness where neither capitalists nor workers recognize the eploitation. Workers can eventually see the exploitation- achieving class conciousness.
In development of conflict theory, Weber came after Marx and favored a more
multidimensional approach. Our lives become dominated by the culture industry which is controlled by mass media.
Conflict theory George Ritzer suggest we have entered a new form of capitalism called
prosumer capitalism, where lines between the production and consumption are blurred (self check out at stores, producing facebook content)
Wallerstein (conflict theory) divides the world into 3 classes of countries:
core (dominates economy), periphery (cheap material and labor, exploited by rest of world), semiperiphery (newly industrializing)
Postcolonial theory
focuses on ongoing impact of colonialism of 18th and 19th centuries.
Critical Race Theory
developed by legal scholars in the US to draw attention to racial oppression in the law and society. (conflict theory)
Microaggressions
Brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages and insults to POC or minorities.
Feminist theories
focus on male domination of the major social institution and present vision of a just world based on gender equity (conflict theory)
Social workers have used ______ perspective as a base to develop practice oriented empowerment theories.
Conflict
intersectionality
individuals have overlapping memberships in a variety of status groups
Which perspective is the best at helping us look at group based patterns of inequality?
Conflict perspective
Exchange and choice perspective
Focus on the processes whereby individual and collective actors seek and exchange resources and the choices made in pursuit of those resources
Exchange of resources is the core process of life. Which perspective is this?
Exchange and Choice perspective
Social Constructionist Perspective
People construct meaning, a sense of self, and a social world through their interactions with each other.
Difference between social exchange theory and social constructionist
Social exchange is focused on social interaction as an exchange of resources. Social constructions focus on social interaction as a way to product meaning.
